


Keep holding on

by Jeylee



Series: After the Island [1]
Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Allergic reaction, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hospital, Hurt/Comfort, Injured!Shelby, Post-Canon, Protective Toni Shalifoe, The Unsinkable Eight - Freeform, i don't know how to tag, the bunker too, well only kinda, what happend after the shark attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29089167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jeylee/pseuds/Jeylee
Summary: Toni is protective of her loved ones and especially of this one blond texas girl she met a few weeks ago
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Series: After the Island [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134260
Comments: 2
Kudos: 95





	Keep holding on

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda my first fanfiction in English, as it’s not my first language I’m sorry if the grammar and everything is crap, I don’t really know yet how to translate my thoughts and put them it words in english.  
> If anyone would be interested to be my beta reader I would be really glad! I’m thinking about maybe do a series with the girls after they escaped the island.  
> I know Shelby's injured leg probably wasn't because of the shark and they were likely there a little longer after this, but I choose to ignore this 
> 
> Anyway, happy reading and I hope you’ll like it😊

You’re not alone, together we stand  
I’ll be by your side, you know I’ll take your hand  
When it gets cold and it feels like the end  
There’s no place to go, you know I won’t give in

Keep holding on  
Cause you know we’ll make it through, make it through  
Just stay strong  
Cause you know I’m here for you, I’m here for you  
There’s nothing you can say, nothing you can do  
There’s no other way when it comes to the truth

Keep holding on  
Cause you know We’ll make it through, we’ll make it trough

“We have to face the facts. In a few day we will be the Unsinkable Five and not the Unsinkable Eight anymore.” Dot looked each of the girls in the eyes. Even tough she didn’t want to accept it, it was the truth and the chance of rescue got smaller and smaller, if there even was one.

“Do you really think so?” Martha looked at her with wide eyes.

“She’s right.” Fatin said softly. “Look at Rachels ha…arm, even if the bleeding stopped, she needs to got to a hospital and so does Shelby. Her leg doesn’t look very good, not to mention Nora. If they don’t get a hospital soon, they’ll die und if it’s just from blood poisoning.”

“And it’s only the fault of this fucking shark!” growled Dot.

“No it’s her fault.” Leah suddenly exclaimed. She was starring at Nora, who lay unconscious in the sand, just like Rachel and Shelby.

“But if Nora und Shelby didn’t went after Rachel, she would probably be dead now.”

Leah snorted contemptuously. “If it hadn’t been for Nora this wouldn’t have happened at all! Any of it! It’s her fault we’re stuck here, she’s in on it.”

“Don’t start your conspiracy theories again Leah, this is ridiculous.” Dot rolled her eyes.

“But it’s true, I saw it!” Leah argued back vehemently. “She talked to them, through some camera tree…and…and she left me in a pit!”

“Do you even hear yourself? That’s…”

“I’M NOT CRAZY!”

“Guys stop. We shouldn’t start to fight now.” Martha interrupted them and Fatin nodded. “It’s getting dark."

Toni barely noticed any of that. She couldn’t stop staring at Shelby. Shelby, who kissed her, with whom she had sex with. Shelby, who went into the water like Nora to save Rachel and got injured too. It was like a miracle she wasn’t as injured as the other two. But her leg hat gotten quite a bit, even if it was her only injurie and she hasn’t lost it, yet.

Toni remembered what she said to her in the morning. That the worst already fucking happened and she didn’t think she could get scared about something that could be good. But she was wrong, the plane crash and being stranded on this island in the middle of nowhere, this still wasn’t the worst. To see how Shelby was putting her life in danger, how she got hurt and just collapsed, was much, much worse. They didn’t know each other for long, but she was about to fall in love with the other girl. Two weeks ago she would have rolled her eyes or even barfed at the thought, but now it was true. She didn’t want anything to happen to her, but she hadn’t done anything about it.

“Someone has to stay awake now all the time, not just to look after the fire, but to watch the others too, whether their condition is getting worse or not. The one who does it can’t close their eyes at all, even if it’s just for a minute.” She suddenly heard Dot speak up.

Toni looked up immediately. “I’ll look after Shelby!”

“I thought you hate her?” Leah asked confused. Toni noticed how Fatin had to hold back a grin, but couldn’t pay attention to the reason, not that she wanted to either. “Yes, I mean, no…I mean, of course, we have had our differences and everything, but we have to stick together now, don’t we?”

“Alright, so you’ll take the first shift?” Dot asked her and Toni nodded. “Okay, if you get tired, just wake me up and I will take over.

Toni absently nodded, she was already looking at Shelby again, she just couldn’t help herself.

While the others went to sleep Dot just rolled her eyes. She had seen Toni and Shelby on top of the hill in the morning, so she knew the reason for Toni’s behavior. She knew them well enough by now and if they didn’t wanted them to know, she would keep it for herself. She took one last quick look at the others, before she also went to sleep, hoping the next day would be better than this one.

Toni’s gaze continued to rest on Shelby, every now and then she looked for a moment at Rachel and Nora, but as soon as she saw that they were both breathing, her eyes went back to Shelby. 

It felt like it was only after a few minutes, although it was probably a few hours, when she suddenly heard a faint noise, it sounded like a whimper.

At first, Toni thought she had imagined it, but then she heard it again and saw Shelby painfully grimacing before she slowly opened her eyes.  
“Shelby!” Toni was instantly at her side, took her hand and gave it a light squeeze, the sheer relief took over her.

“Toni…” Shelby’s voice was quiet and weak, but she spoke and that was the only thing that mattered to Toni. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m here, I’m here.”  
“My leg hurts.” Said Shelby and Toni quickly got up.

“Yes, of course, just a minute.” She rummaged briefly in one of the bags and went back to Shelby. She helped her sit up and gave her the pain killers, which she swallowed with some water.  
“I’m cold.”

Carefully, so she didn’t hurt her leg, Toni sat down and pulled Shelby between her legs, so her head was resting on her chest. She also wrapped her arms around her. She knew it wasn’t enough, but it was better than nothing.

“Don’t you ever do this again, I was fucking scared.” She breathed out. Just the thought of what could have happened let tears well up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Shelby mumbled. Her eyes were already closing again, Toni noticed she seemed to fight it tough.

“Hey, you can go to sleep again, it’s okay, I’m here, I’ll take care of you.” She said and Shelby looked up. “You won’t leave me?”

“I won’t, I promise.” Toni tied to calm her down. And kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll never leave you. And now go back to sleep.” 

Toni didn’t know why, but Shelby let her calm and gently side of herself show up again, a side she didn’t let show after the break up with Regan, a side which she didn’t even know was still there.

So far away, I wish you were here  
Before it’s too late, this could all disappear  
Before the doors close and it comes to an end  
With you by my side I will fight and defend

Keep holding on  
Cause you know we’ll make it through, make it through  
Just stay strong  
Cause you know I’m here for you, I’m here for you  
There’s nothing you can say, nothing you can do  
There’s no other way when it comes to the truth

Keep holding on  
Cause you know We’ll make it through, we’ll make it trough

Restlessly Toni paced in her room up and down. She didn’t know how long they were here now, in some bunker, after they were rescued from the island, but it was way to long in her opinion. The agents who brought them here separated them and she hadn’t seen the others for day now. 

At the beginning she kind of understand the need to separate them. So that they couldn’t coordinate their answers and obstruct the investigation, even if they didn’t know why they’d think they’d do that. They also had to be in quarantine for some reason, even if they were together the whole time on the island. 

Toni had to admit she kind of understood it, but she didn’t like it one bit and she really tried to be patient and everything. But it has been day now since the last saw them and she just couldn’t take it anymore. 

She didn’t know if the others were okay or if they were even alive! The only really strong connection she had to Martha and Shelby of course, but the was stuck for weeks with these girls. If they had ween only a few day on the island together, she probably wouldn’t have cared much about them. But they were forced to spend so much time together, they went trough so much and they grew on her, she really did care for them. It was kind of weird and she would never admit it out loud, but they became like a family. Many of them grew up in a really shitty home situation, some of them didn’t have a family anymore, so it was only kind of natural they were bonding so strongly. 

The longer they were held in this place and they didn’t any questions, the more she was going to be suspicious. Something was really wrong and she was starting to believe Leah was right the whole time. 

It also didn’t help there had been some kind of alarm earlier and Toni didn’t know what that meant. Did something happen? Had there been a fire? Did something happen to the others? To Martha or Shelby? Were they hurt? This uncertainty drove her crazy.

‘That’s enough! We’ve waited long enough now.” Toni thought frustrated and went to the door in the room. There had to be some way to open it. She couldn’t even touch the doorknob tough, before it was opened and she stared surprised in the face of one of those agents. Yang? Young? Toni didn’t remember his name and if she was honest, she didn’t really care either. 

“I want to see the others…now.” She knew she wasn’t in the position to demand anything from him, but she was hoping it still worked if she tried to sound confident.

She frowned when the man smiled at her. “You’re lucky I’m here then, because that’s exactly the reason I am here.”

“I don’t care what you…wait a minute, really?” Stunned, but hopeful, she looked at him. Could it be true? Would he really take her to the girls? Or was it just another trick?

“Of course, come on. I’ll take you to them.”

At a rapid pace Toni followed him, she didn’t know if she could trust him, but she couldn’t wait anymore. 

“What was the alarm about? Is everything okay? Are the others alright?”

Toni saw how Agent Young hesitated for a moment. “One step at a time. You’ll know soon enough.”

She was about to answer, when he suddenly stopped in front of a door. Toni couldn’t hear a thing behind it, but she could imagine who could be possibly in it, and her heart began to beat faster.

“You can go inside. I’ll come soon and answer every question you might have.” Agent Young said.

“But the others…?”

“Everyone is inside.” He answered before he left her alone again. In other circumstances she’d never go into the room, she wouldn’t even think about it, but there was to much of a chance this was some kind of trap. But she doesn’t want to think about this, she really hoped everything Agent Young just said was true. Even the chance, however small it might was, to see the girls again, to see Shelby again, was the reason she opened the door with her heart beathing widely against her chest.

The door wasn’t even fully opened yet, before something or rather someone jumped right into her arms. “Toni!”

Toni recognized the voice immediately and laughed happily. “Marty!”

She hugged the others too, this wasn’t her was or something she’d normally do, but she missed them dearly. Afterwards she looked confused around.

Martha was there, and so were Rachel, Leah, Dot and Fatin. Where was Shelby? Nora wasn’t there either, but Toni didn’t really care about that.

“What happened? Where’s Shelby?” she asked the others.

“I bet Agent Young just went to get her, you just got here too.” Martha suggested, but Toni shook her head.

“This can’t be. He said everyone else is already here, but she isn’t. Where is she?”

“I saw her yesterday They took her to me.” Leah said quietly and everyone looked at her. 

“What?”

“Why?”

Leah shrugged. “I don’t know, but she secretly gave me a note that said I was right. Look, I was able to escape my room for a moment and I found this room with video recordings of an island just like ours, but with boys only.”

“What does this mean? It wasn’t real?” Confused Martha looked around.

“Well, there is defiantly something wrong with this agents.” Dot said.

“Totally, those questions they asked, there was now way they knew some of these things. I certainly didn’t tell them and I’m sure you guys didn’t either.” Fatin added.

“I don’t give a fuck about all of this right now!” Toni yelled and noticed how her pulse shot up and she turned red in the face. “And you shouldn’t either. We’re not complete! Shelby is missing and so is Nora!”

“Nora won’t come, she’s still in the hospital.” Rachel explained. 

“She can stay there too, if you ask me.” Leah muttered.

“Shut up Leah.” Rachel growled.

“But Shelby isn’t, otherwise she wouldn’t have been with Leah yesterday.” Toni tried again and grew more restless. Why was everyone here, except her? And why didn’t anybody care about that?

“Since when do you care so much about Shelby?” Martha wondered.

“Yeah, I thought you hated her.” Rachel agreed.

“I don’t hate her, I never said that! I…” Toni tried to defend herself, but was interrupted by Fatin: “She defiantly doesn’t hate her.”

Toni looked at her with anger in her eyes. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Fatin rolled her eyes. “Please, the sexual tension between you two? Unbearable.”

“You cant be serious. Toni and Shelby? No way.” Rachel disagreed, but when Toni said nothing and Dot didn’t look particularly surprised either, she paused. “Wait a minute, really? 

“Toni?” Martha looked gently at her best friend and Toni gave up.

“Fine! You’re right, okay?! Shelba and I…we’re together. Are you satisfied now? But if someone says anything stupid about it to her…”

“You now we’d never to that, but you have to admit it was a bit of a surprise. “ Dot calmed her down and the others nodded.

“Who would have thought?” Fatin laughed. “Toni and our Jesus Freak.”

“Shut the fuck up Fatin!” Toni hissed and Fatin raised her hands in defense. “Easy there, tiger.”

“Guys, stick to the topic, this is important.” Leah reminded them. “Toni is right, Shelby should be here, but she isn’t. The question is why? When I last saw her she was fine.”

“Especially if we’re right about the agents, this can’t be good.” Dot supposed.

“But it doesn’t make any sense. If it were true they’d never let us see each other.” Rachel disagreed.

“What about the alarm earlier? Maybe that’s the reason they let us out?” Fatin assumed.

“What does this mean for Shelby? Was the alarm about her?” Martha feared and put an supporting arm around Toni.

Just in that moment Agent Young entered the room again, everyone turned immediately to him with suspicious eyes.

“Well, it’s time to find out.” Dot declared and crossed her arms. “Where’s Shelby?”

“One step at a time.” Agent Young stated calmly. “You…”

“I don’t give a shit about your ‘One step at a time’! Where the hell is she?!” Toni yelled angry.

“The alarm was about her, wasn’t it?” Martha asked.

Agent Young sighed, but nodded eventually. “You’re right, it was. Ms. Goodkind is in the hospital right now.”

“What? What have you done to her?!”

“I gave her some seafood, because…”

“You knew she was allergic and still gave it to her?” Leah asked bewildered.

“I’ll kill you!” Toni screamed and was about to storm over to him, but was held back by Fatin and Martha. “Let go of me!”

“Ms. Goodkind was in danger and this was the only way to get her out as soon as possible.” Agent Young explained.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Dot asked, at the same time as Toni shouted again at him. “By poisoning her? You’re the one who put her in danger, her allergy could’ve killed her!”

“They found out about the note she gave to you and wanted to punish her for it…it was also known that you escaped.” He said and looked at Leah, who involuntarily took a step back.

“And now you want to get rid of us?” Martha stared fearfully at him.

“What do you mean ‘they’? You also belong to them.” Fatin accused him.

“Not really. My name is actually Agent Morgan. I’m an undercover agent working for the FBI. I carried out an investigation against Mrs. Klein and her team. I’m sorry you got in between and had to experience all of this.” He continued.

The girls looked at each other in shock. Could this be true, should they believe them?

“So, all of this was fake? For real?” Rachel looked at him in disbelief.

“Sorry Leah, for not believing you the whole time.” Dot said.

“It’s okay.” Leah said stunned. “I couldn’t believe it either for most of the time.”

“What about Shelby?” Toni growled again. As long as she didn’t know she was 100% save, she wouldn’t believe a word he said.

“Your friend is alright, she’s as fine as she could be according to the circumstances. Because it was planned we could treat her immediately. She is awake and she actually already asked for you. I can take you to her if you want and I will explain everything.” Agent Morgan answered.

“Okay, but you won’t separate us again.” Toni demanded.

“Of course.” Agent Morgan nodded. “Follow me, I’ll take you her. She’s waiting for you all.”

They didn’t know if he was really telling the truth and if they could trust him, but they followed him anyway, if only to see Shelby again and to know that maybe, just maybe, this whole nightmare would be finally over. 

Hear me when I say I believe  
Nothings gonna change destiny  
Whatever is meant to be will work out perfectly

Keep holding on  
Cause you know we’ll make it through  
Just stay strong  
Cause you know I’m here for you, here for you  
There’s nothing you can say  
Nothing you can do  
There’s no other way when it comes to the truth

Keep holding on  
Cause you know we’ll make it through, make it through

Toni had to swallow when she finally entered Shelby’s hospital room and saw her lying there, pale and wired with a bunch of tubes.

It showed her again that she nearly lost Shelby, forever, it was a really close call. After these weeks they spent together on the island, she couldn’t imagine her life without her anymore. The last few days without her had been torture enough, to imagine she’d never ever see her again…Toni shook her head, she didn’t want to think about that. Her mind was buzzing with enough thoughts already.

On the way to the hospital, which was way to long in her opinion, Agent Morgan explained everything to them. Toni still didn’t know what to think about all of this, she was just glad it was finally over.

Agent Morgan offered them to organize a hotel for the night, but they all declined. Toni wanted to see Shelby and after everything they went through, they wanted to stay together. The others were now all in the waiting area, for which she was grateful.

“You’re thinking too loud.”

She looked up in surprise and saw how Shelby slowly opened her eyes and smiled tiredly at her.

“Shelby.” Toni breathed and quickly went to her side. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel a little weak, but otherwise I’m fine,. Fortunately they gave my the epi pen real quick.”

Toni scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

“Toni?” Confused Shelby looked at her.

Toni hesitated and ran her hand through her hair. “Agent Young, he’s not really an agent…well, he is, but he’s working undercover for the real FBI, he’s not with this other guy and, eh, your allergic reaction? It wasn’t an accident. He put…”

“The seafood in my soup intentionally? I know.” Shelby interrupted her.

“Exactly and because of that…wait a minute, you knew?” Flabbergasted Toni looked at her.

“Not really, but I did assume.” Shelby sighed. “I knew there was something wrong with them, they knew way too much about me…about us.” She paused for a moment. “I guess I kinda asked for it and when I saw the seafood in my dinner, I don’t know, I wanted to know if I was right I guess.”

“You wanted to know if…?” Toni let out a dry laugh. “Are you insane?! You could’ve died! What if you were wrong and they didn’t know about your allergy or they wanted to get rid of you?” Toni felt the anger rise in her, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Didn’t Shelby knew the danger she had put herself in? “Or was that your intention?”

“Toni no. That’s not what I meant.” Shelby replied desperate, but Toni wasn’t really listening. “What else am I supposed to think? I…I can’t do this right now.” She said and turned slightly away.

Shelby felt the tears well up, this wasn’t the way she imagined her reunion with Toni would go. “Toni, please. I’m sorry.” She reached out her hand and placed it on top of Toni’s. “Please don’t go.”

For a moment it was quiet between them, they both looked at each other, but neither said a word. 

“Don’t do that ever again.” Toni finally said as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

“I really didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I’m serious Shelby. After everything that happened…I can’t lose you.”

Shelby looked down in guilt. “I’m really, really sorry. I won’t do it again, I promise.”

“It’s okay, I believe you.” Toni sighed. “Actually I should have expect it probably you don’t just sit there and do nothing and after Leah told us about your note and what Agent Morgan said..:”  
“Who is Agent Morgan?” Shelby interrupted her confused.

“Sorry, I forgot you don’t know that.” Toni said. “Agent Morgan is Agent Youngs real name, he’s an undercover agent. All of this, everything that happened, it was fake. The plane crash didn’t really happened, everything was made up, it’s just some kind of sick experiment.” Toni explained angry and shook her head again. “It was all exposed when they brought you to the hospital. He explained it to us on the way.”

“Oh, okay.” A little speechless Shelby stared at her. “I didn’t expect that. So, what did he say? Agent Morgan I mean.”

“Well, he kind of warned me about you.” Toni admitted. “He said you were showing signs of some personality disorder or something like that.”

Shelby laughed. “They really did believe that crap?”

“You mean you played them the whole time?” Toni grinned and Shelby nodded. “HE also said that was kind of the reason you shaved off your hair, but if it wasn’t, why did you do it?” she carefully asked.

Shelby sighed and looked down. “I don’t know. When I saw it for the first time after the island, I guess I kind of panicked…is it really that bad?”

“No, no, it’s not like that. You’re beautiful Shelby.” Careful not to hurt her, Toni sat down on Shelby’s bed. “With or without hair, it doesn’t matter, you’re always beautiful.” She said and Shelby blushed.

Toni hesitated for a moment, before she slowly leaned her head down to Shelby. She paused for a second when their noses nearly touched, before she kissed her gently.

“How long do you have to stay here?” Toni asked Shelby after they separated again.

“I only have to stay the night, just to be sure they said. I’ll be released in the morning.” Shelby answered and looked at Toni. “What does this mean now? For us?” 

Toni frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if this is over now, our parent will come…and we’ll go home, won’t we?” Shelby explained and her breathing increased. “I don’t wanna go back, my parents will know, they’ll sent me to one of those camps, my dad will be furious and I’ll never see you again.”

“Hey, calm down, it’s okay. This won’t happen, our parents aren’t allowed to come yet.” Toni said reassuringly, took her hand and squeezed it lightly, Shelby just looked confused. “What?”

“That’s what Agent Morgan said. They don’t know about how much our parents knew about all of this or if they were somehow involved. As long as they don’t know that, they are not permitted to see us. Some of those investigations take forever, we’ll be of age by the end of it and then you’ll never have to return. You’ll be free. 

Shelby needed a moment to process this, but smiled lightly. “Really? So, what happens now? Where will we go?”

Toni shrugged. “No idea, but I thought maybe…”

“You’ll come with us to L.A.” They suddenly heard a voice, when they turned around, they saw Fatin standing in the door with the others behind her. “I’m sorry Toni, but you take way too long.”

“Don’t look at us, this wasn’t our idea.” Dot defended herself when she saw how annoyed Toni looked. Shelby on the other hand beamed at them. “Guys! It’s great to see you again, I missed you!”

“You too Britney.” Fatin laughed and hugged Shelby. Toni didn’t found that funny. “Shut up Fatin.”

Shelby reassuringly squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, she’s kinda right, isn’t she?” She laughed. “What was that about L.A. again?” Shelby asked after she hugged everyone.

“We talked to Agent Morgan and he said he’ll organize something for us.” Leah mentioned.

“We won’t to stay together and Fatin and Dot wanted to go there anyway, so we decided we’ll all go.” Rachel explained.

“Will you come too? Then the Unsinkable Eight will be together again.” Martha locked hopefully at them.

“Yeah, this time also without this whole starving to death thing and with much more sex! Well, this wouldn’t have been a problem for you two anyway, right?” Fatin laughed.

“Of course, I’ll come.” Shelby exclaimed immediately, ignoring Fatins comment.”

“Yeah, me too. I can’t let you guys have all the fun without me, can I?” Toni agreed.

“As long as you don’t beat each other up again, when I leave you for five minutes.” Dot said dryly.

“Don’t touch my toothbrush again and we won’t have a problem.” Fatin teased.

“Still not my fault as it wouldn’t have worked much longer anyway.”

Toni rolled her eyes as she watched them arguing. Who would have thought some weekend trip would come to this development. Even if she wouldn’t want to experience this nightmare again and it really was traumatizing enough for the rest of their lives, she was glad she met the others through this tough. She went with her best friend slash sister and had come home with a girlfriend and a whole new family. Because that’s exactly what they were, if if it was a weird one, a family.


End file.
